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Fort Morgan Middle School

Building nearing end of use as school, but it has served the community well over the years

By Community History Writers

Special to the Times

Posted:
04/07/2016 08:50:29 PM MDT

Fort Morgan's first high school building is pictured during its construction in 1925 or 1926. The 1926 yearbook, where this picture appeared, called it "a pretentious building with a gingerbread roof." (Fort Morgan Museum collection / Courtesy photo)

Click photo to enlarge

This is a 1926 yearbook illustration of the planned new junior senior high school building in Fort Morgan.

Committee studying the future of the old middle school plans community open house Monday night

Over the past year, a committee of local residents has been meeting to consider possible uses for the current Fort Morgan Middle School once the new middle school opens in the fall. Input from the community indicates that there is a need for expanded community service options, and there is a feeling that the current building, located at 300 Deuel St., could be a valuable community asset for many years to come. The committee has heard community input the building should not be left to deteriorate.

A recently-completed study by the School of Architecture at the University of Colorado has created some exciting suggestions for possible future uses of this historic building, and the community is invited to attend an open house at the current middle school from 3:30 to 7 p.m on Monday, April 11, in the middle school cafeteria. Community members are asked to enter on the south side of the building directly into the cafeteria. There will be several stations set up to display various design ideas. Those attending the Open House will have the opportunity to view these ideas in a relaxed setting, and there will be opportunity to ask questions and leave feedback for the Re-3 Board Of Education to consider as they decide what the next steps will be for the school building.

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Community members are encouraged to attend this open house and have a voice in the future for Fort Morgan. Anyone with questions about the open house should call 970-370-6111.

— From Morgan County Re-3 School District

Editor's Note: This is part of a monthly series of stories by the Community History Writers, a group of area individuals committed to documenting and writing about local history and the people, places and happenings that created the various communities within Morgan County. This volunteer group first came together to create, "Morgan County: A Land of Immigrants," a booklet detailing the area's immigration.

The current Fort Morgan Middle School is pictured in 2015. It is not yet known what will happen with the building next year when it is no longer needed as a school. (Fort Morgan Times file photo)

Knowing that there are some in the community who value the present Fort Morgan Middle School and are concerned about its future once it becomes vacated next fall, the Community History Writers chose to feature this school for April's historical article.

Student population boom

This remarkable building has housed students and classes since Jan. 18, 1926. It was originally built to accommodate grades 7 through 12 and to relieve the congestion in the old Central School on Lake Street. As a testimonial to the growth of the city of Fort Morgan and the increase in number of students continuing their education beyond grade school, the school census in one year from 1923 to 1924 showed an increase of 271 students.

In the 1960s, Re-3 Maintenance/Transportation Supervisor Harry Bower was concerned that this tree in front of the current Fort Morgan Middle School was going to split apart, so he braced the two limbs to each other with a chain, and the tree has continued to thrive. The chain is still there, as shown in this picture taken Thursday. (Jenni Grubbs / Fort Morgan Times)

At that time Central School included grades 3 through 12. To make room for the growing numbers of junior and senior high students, six classrooms had been partitioned down the middle to form needed extra classrooms. These classrooms were crowded, poorly lighted and ventilated. Lighting and ventilation also were inadequate in the basement, where elementary classes were held. The auditorium seated only 175, thus totally inadequate for a high school population of 400. It was being used for study halls that also were poorly lighted. Labs were one-fourth the size they needed to be, and the existing lab equipment was inadequate and outdated. There was no library and too few toilets.

Funding a new school

The 1927 Fort Morgan High School Debate Club is pictured in the yearbook. 1927 was the first year in the brand junior senior high school building, and Miss Elizabeth Work's debate squad won the state championship. (Fort Morgan Museum collection / Courtesy photo)

A bond election to build a new building was held in 1923 and was defeated. North Central Association issued a final and conclusive warning to the school district that if nothing were done to relieve existing conditions of the schools in the city before May 1925, the high school would be discredited.

Hoping to avoid being discredited, a second bond election for a new $290,000 school was held on Oct. 24, 1924. It easily passed with a 3 to 1 victory ratio. The voters also gave approval for the school district to build the school on Block Seven of the G.R. Baker addition. The school district had already purchased all but 4 of the lots with proceeds from an earlier bond election and needed the voters' approval to secure these last four lots.

This page in the 1951 Fort Morgan High School yearbook depicts the Twirlers, Buglers and Swingsters. (Fort Morgan Museum collection / Courtesy photo)

The building was to be designed in the new U shape that had advantages especially in lighting over the block shape used in the previously built schools. Years later many of the building's windows would be bricked over to conserve heat and energy. It would house 650 students, grades 7 through 12 and included the students from rural schools #5 and #7. These two schools were closed and busing of rural students was provided for the first time beginning in September l925.

Adding buses

An article in the Fort Morgan Times on Jan. 7, 1926, gave a very favorable report on the new school bus transportation system.

The first bus was a Graham chassis that cost $2,250. The bus traveled an average of 22.7 miles twice a day with an average of 47 pupils in both the morning and evening trips. It took one hour and 20 minutes to complete the route.

For its first 3 months of operation, its costs of $6.09 per month per child were lower than any other school system in the state making such a report.

Building opens

On Jan. 18 and 19, 1926, all the junior and senior high desks were moved from Central to the new school, and classes officially began on Jan. 20, 1926. (But it took a while longer for the student lockers to arrive at the new building.) The official dedication for the building was held on the evening of Feb. 11, 1926, in the auditorium.

The new school building received raving reviews. The Fort Morgan Times reported that 1,400 people attended the evening dedication in the new auditorium "...the largest number ever assembled under one roof in Fort Morgan." According to the Feb. 18, 1926, editorial, "Authorities have stated that there is not a building of equal cost in Colorado where more has been secured for the money." An editorial in the Evening Times on Feb. 12, 1926, stated it was, "one of the best high school plants in America."

By 1950 with city growth and the consolidation of rural schools, the school's population had reached 905 and there was a need for larger facilities. The present gymnasium on the southwest and the vocational agriculture addition on the northwest were completed in the fall of 1954.

The $293,064 gymnasium was one of the largest high school gyms in the state at that time, with a 94-foot-by-50-foot basketball court. Bill Spencer, a freshman at the time, remarked, "What a tremendous improvement over the extremely small gym where games had been played for years, and which eventually became the Colt Corral. The new gym had what seemed at the time like huge roll-out bleachers on one side, and they were always pretty much filled during games. We felt pretty big time having that gym...even if it did mean a lot more space to decorate for the junior-senior proms."

A former ag instructor claims that the $101,116.80 agriculture addition is still one of the finest ag shop facilities anywhere. The Sept. 24, 1954, Fort Morgan High School Megaphone newspaper reported that the new ag department was the largest in the state and has, "such modern conveniences as green blackboards (much easier on the eyes than the old blackboards) and a very modernistic wash basin...which is about six feet in radius, and has a control bar circling the bottom that regulates a fine spray of water at the top."

Early years of junior-senior high

During its 90-year history, many changes and noteworthy events have taken place.

Presently the Fort Morgan school district is suffering a shortage of school bus drivers. Until the later l950s, senior boys were allowed to drive the school buses. A photo in the 1951 Pacemaker shows 15 of the student drivers.

The early school had a cafeteria but no hot lunch program. Students brought sack lunches from home to eat in the cafeteria. The school would later have three hot lunch periods every day: one for Baker Elementary School located across the street at Deuel Street and Beaver Avenue (the school was razed in l966), a second for grades 7 through 9, and the third for grades 10 through 12.

During the Great Depression in l937, the Works Progress Administration helped defray the cost of hot lunches for those in need. For a nickel, students could buy a lunch consisting of a pint of vegetable soup, oyster crackers, bread and butter sandwiches and a cinnamon roll or a doughnut. The meals were prepared in the domestic science cooking room by high school girls and served on trays across the hall where white table clothes were spread on the sewing tables. Students paid as they entered the sewing room. The high school girls received their lunches free and were paid 50 cents a week for their work.

In those early years the sport teams (all boys; girls were offered only inter-mural sports) were called the Maroons (often described as "morons" or "cookies" by opposing fans). Almost all the girls joined Pep Club, the popular spirit activity that supported the cheerleaders and the teams. The high school girls wore maroon sweaters and black skirts and the junior high girls wore white blouses and black skirts. They sat together at games and attendance was taken.

The marching band was more than 70 members. It was led by a uniformed drum-major, twirlers and cheerleaders. The orchestra was almost as large. Large choruses, as well as triple trios, Morgan High Singers and other smaller groups were popular.

A photo of three girls holding trumpets in the 1951 yearbook has a caption that reads, "Every morning for six short years this senior class has risen in honor of the U.S. flag to the sound of trumpets. We very much appreciate this patriotic rite performed by the steadfast buglers."

Making changes

A fire in 1956 led to redecoration of the band and boiler rooms. The board also examined other rooms and determined that many of the rooms needed to be repainted and that "old and obsolete" furniture needed to be replaced.

As more students were acquiring cars and driving to school, not only was there a parking problem at the school, but it also was creating a traffic problem at noon on Main Street.

In 1956, police asked FMHS administrators to "impound" the car keys of students who drove to school to cut down on the noontime traffic. Administrators thought the request too hard to enforce, but they implemented a shorter lunch period to help solve the problem.

Activities and accolades

In the decades of the junior-senior high, many activities were offered to students besides sports and music.

There was an active Junior Red Cross club for girls. Hi-Y, a YMCA based social club for boys, was active. Big and Little Sisters gave junior high girls and bridge into their future as high school students after they made the symbolic walk from the junior high wing to the senior high wing.

In 1927, the first year in the brand new building, Miss Elizabeth Work's debate squad won the state championship. She encouraged student interest in international affairs by sponsoring international clubs: Olympics, International Relations, Cultural Exchange and UNESCO which sponsored the first of 50-plus years of Trick or Treat drives for UNICEF at Halloween. The interest led to the sponsorship of the first foreign exchange student, Lisa Hinkkanen, from Finland in the mid 1950s. The following year, Judy Holleman became the first FMHS foreign exchange student and spent a year in Germany.

Another remarkable teacher was the Latin and Spanish teacher, Miss Marian Donnell. She was a polio survivor, but the disease left both her legs useless. Everyday she "walked" up and down several flights of stairs to her room using her crutches as substitutes for her legs. While Latin has lost its importance in high schools today, Spanish classes are more relevant than ever.

In 1945, the Junior High Conservation Club under the leadership of Herb Hockstrasser was organized and later recognized as a model throughout the nation. They collected discarded Christmas trees for game cover, served as a collection station of deer hides during hunting season, sponsored hunter safety classes, developed a conservation den that rivaled museums in their collection of birds and game animals and did a weekly broadcast over KFTM radio.

During his long teaching career, Elemer Bernath was instrumental in encouraging many students to develop award-winning science projects gaining skills and knowledge far beyond that possible to achieve in the classroom.

Shifting grades

The present high school was completed in 1966, and the 10th through 12th grades and faculty moved to the new building. The Deuel Street building became the Fort Morgan Junior High School, giving the seventh through ninth grades, which had been confined to mainly the second floor, access to the third floor and thus an expanded curriculum.

In 1984, the school board approved creating a middle school of seventh and eighth grades, and moved the ninth grade to the high school. The middle school philosophy provided a transition from childhood to adolescence, free from the "pressure of sophisticated social events" and guided by the formation of interdisciplinary teams, which would teach the same group of students for all academic classes, and provide a home-based teacher, who also acted as an adviser.

From 1984 to the present, Fort Morgan Middle School has seen significant "upgrades" in building improvements, both to conserve energy, and to provide more amenities to students. This is particularly apparent in the auditorium, which has an art deco design, smaller size and excellent acoustics that make it a desirable site for both school and community groups and many types of activities.

Future up in the air

As the last of the students who had classes in the old middle school building leave in May, either to attend Fort Morgan High School or the new middle school next August, the question of the future of this historic building, built with pride in l925, and maintained ever since with pride, is of concern to many in the community who value it as an asset to the community.

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